This show is in the shadow of its brother from the night before [the huckleberry jam show], which is the best of the month (along with 8/24). Thirteen of those songs were played again on this night and only three of them are better (Cumberland, Sugaree, McGee). Yet still there is much here to cherish, as the band were whipping out very solid shows in Summer '71. As noted by others, the sound of the band evolved fast at this time (Jer's guitar tone), but if you like the previous night, this is similar.

First Set. You can tell that something's a bit off right off the top, and on Playin' its obvious. But the warming-up happens during Mr. Charlie, and then they reel out an exigent Cumberland Blues that's more like it! Somebody in the audience keeps confusedly requesting Airplane songs, and after Sugaree there's a funny tuning with Phil playing White Rabbit to tease the guy (but it comes off sounding like the España Cañí). The next two refuse to gain altitude, with Boss Man hampered by Jer's broken string. As is typical in '71 they wrestle it back for a great finish, with Phil driving a wonderful China Cat>Rider and a letter-perfect Casey Jones.

Second Set. The first three are identical to the night before, though not quite as hot - until after the first verse of The Other One, when it dissolves into free form fall. The long pull into Me & My Uncle is great. It sounds a bit different this night. Well-played sir! Wharf Rat has gotta be in the top 3 of '71. A fine tempo and scanned with detail; the end of a 42min sequence. It's no surprise, in the context of '71 shows, but half of Lovelight is you-had-to-be-there. The rest is average '71, though Bid You Good Night is probably one of the longest versions.

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3¼ stars

Highlights:
Cumberland Blues - reeled
China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider - hot period in general for China/Rider +Phil
Casey Jones - letter-perfect
Me & My Uncle - sounds different and segue in is golden
Wharf Rat - great keystone to big sequence

SOURCES: The plain SBD [gustin_131] has a few anomalies and a pitch error. The 130890_MrBill adjusts the pitch (though maybe a tad slow) makes some corrections, as per the notes file, but it removes the partial Wish I Was a Headlight verse on Rider and is missing the beginning of Wharf. The best results come with using the ladner_21780 and adjusting the pitch. It fixes the other anomalies but otherwise runs way too fast, needing -3% pitch for the first set, -2% for Truckin>TOO and -2% for the rest.

Jerry did in fact play his sunburst Les Paul for both shows at Berkley Aug. 14,15,1971. Pictures can be found here >http://paralleltunes.com/Paralleltunes.com/Garcia_Gear.html

Saw DSO last night in Santa Cruz do this entire show . Impressive :)

Excellent pair of shows in Berkeley reminiscent of April intensity.
Killer Cumberland and Truckin>The Other One- Phil is truly excellent both nights.

I never saw a headphone jack with an opposing RCA connect to think of employing it. Thank you oh ah um for that.

Just before the 7:00 minute mark at the end of Sugaree, the band plays White Rabbit and then talks to someone in the crowd about it!

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~^|\_@|@_/|^~
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Get both shows August 14-15, 1971. I think the 14th is a better show.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-08-14.sbd.ladner.21268.sbeok.shnf

I highly recommend adding this show to your 1971 GRATEFUL DEAD collection.

1971 was the "Best Year" in GRATEFUL DEAD music in my opinion...Classic 1971 sound. The sound that made them famous/infamous...

This show does have Truckin-->Drums-->Other One-->Me & My Uncle-->Other One-->Wharf Rat, & Turn On Your Lovelight, which the other show doesn't.

I recommend using your EQ during playback of most of the shows on the IA, this one included.

Windows Media Player has a 10 band EQ and SRS WOW effects that enhance the sound.

Here's one way to stream/dowload this show:

The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer.

RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com.

Using RealPlayer to view this webpage, click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist.

If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer.

Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it.

When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder.

Repeat these steps for each song.

OR

Hook up audio cables (1/8th inch stereo male jack with two rca male jacks at the other end) from your headphone jack on your computer to your audio input on your Reel to Reel, Cassette,VHS, CD, DVD, MP3, recorder and record it in real time...duh?

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD, for tomorrow we may die....

Thanks for the LOVE from 1971.

PS: Remember to click on the "DeadLists Project" link and get the "Poster" for this show.

I'm sorry George Minton but as a guitarist who owns two les pauls and 4 or 5 strats I can tell you that Jerry is indeed playing a Les Paul here and on the previous night. There are also pictures of him playing a sunburst les paul on dead.net and on that Jerry's guitar's website. Listen to that Gaelic park show from a couple of weeks later and you will be able to hear the classic sound of a Stratocaster. It is Les Paul here though. I actually searched these shows out after seeing the pictures in order to hear his Les Paul sound.

This show is a great example of how less is more.

Great sounding rhythm section. Two guitars, Bass, Drums and Pigpen on the organ.

THE DEAD would never sound like this again.

A truely special treat here at the IA.

Excellent sound from the audio board , excellent mix, and masterful performances make this show one you will listen to over an over.

The soundman has some problems from time to time, but hey it's 1971 and these guys were still using freaking tube amps,and who knows what other ancient technologies long forgotten by the modern computer age.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and listen to THE GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the Love.

Lots of fabulous moments, nice crisp sound, best Wharf Rat ever - a nice delicately detailed body followed by an explosive jam. Four and three quarter stars, rounded up to five.

Additionally, because I'm seriously type-A and a guitarist, Jerry is in fact playing a Fender Stratocaster; he had been since the fall of '69, with a few exceptions such as the encores of the last night at the Fillmore. The continued thinning of his guitar sound was largely due to the influence of the Alembic boys, giving him "hi-fi" pre-amps because they hated the "primitive" sound of a Strat through a Fender Twin. And, from guitar amps 101, "hi-fi" equals "clean" equals "thin", and conversely "primitive" equals "distorted" equals "thick."

Jerry's tone stayed thin for the rest of his career, even when most of his later custom guitars had humbucking (i.e., Gibson) pickups in one or more of the three positions.

I got this in an email from dead.net today... The Vault masters of this show and the previous night were recently disovered and it sounds like they will be released sometime in the near future, so if you want this show for free, grab it while you can! (It sounds great, BTW!)

In the spring of 2005, Keith's brother Brian and son Zion were cleaning out the houseboat, found the tapes, and gave them to Donna, whose jaw dropped. One call to Lemieux later, and the Dead's long-lost missing tour from the summer of 1971 had resurfaced. Master tapes include April 28 and 29 at the Fillmore East (released as "Ladies and Gentlemen," which was mixed from the multi-track masters), the 7/31 Yale Bowl (alas, the reels were blank), a small piece of the second Hollywood Palladium show, the complete shows from Berkeley Community Theatre 8/14 & 8/15, and others. Dick's Pick #35 is the complete San Diego (8/7/71) show, all that was salvageable of the 8/24 Chicago show, and an hour-plus of the Hollywood Palladium (8/6), which is all that existed on the tapes.

What an amazing find these shows are (8-14 & 15 -71)! Its hard to believe they somehow evaded me for so long.

Like many, Ive had the audience tapes of the Hollywood 8-5/6 shows, and considered their absence from the Vault a big loss. But we have these shows, which rest assured are of equal caliber. In fact, if these four shows were all available in similar sound quality for comparison, I strongly suspect that peoples opinion of the relative merits of the shows would change.

Yes, my two or three very favorite moments come from the Hollywood shows (specifically, moments in each of the Other Ones), but overall, if my back was against the wall and I had to pick one show, I would probably give the nod to 8/14.

The high points from all four of these shows are undoubtedly the Other One jams. It is no coincidence that the boys played it back-to-back in both runs. In 1971, the Other One was THE signature jam of the band. Though theyd been jamming on it for fully four years, I find these 71 ones to be my favorite. Portchester 2-23, Fillmore 4-28, Fillmore West 7-2, which David Gans once described as molten they are all momentous musical events in the Deads history. And the four from these runs belong center square in this group. Im particularly partial to 8-5 (I love those blood-curdling yells from the audience in all the right places!), and the Me & My Uncle segueway part in 8-6 but this is a review of Berkeley 8-14/15 I digress.

These August 71 shows also have musical historical significance. They represent the last shows with solid body Gibson guitars (Jerry and Phil). By the time of the Gaelic Park gig 8-26, Jerry had switched to a Strat and Phil was playing a hollow body. Two months prior to a further thinning out of the bands guitars due to Keith joining, this was the last time we would here those big, fat Gibson tones emanating from Jerrys amps. Its my opinion that Jerrys switching to a Stratas well as Keiths pianoaffected (adversely) Jerrys style in a feedback-loop sort of way. The thinner tones influenced Jerry to play with less vibrato and ballsiness, and play more scales. This was exacerbated by the addition of Keiths percussive piano playing later that year. Was the thinning of Jerrys sound evident at the Gaelic Park show just two weeks later? Im not sure. You be the judge.

Back to the shows. The sound quality is exceptional. There are some problems in the mix in places. Overall, Phils bass is out front in both channels. Now, Id be the first to admit that there are a lot worse things than having Phil too loud. On the two Other One jams we *really* get to hear Phils brilliance crystal clear.

Jerry in parts is a little too far back in the mix. But thats OK, too. The biggest problem is that Bobbys guitar appears and disappears in the mix. In fact, in the 8-14 Not Fade Away jam, it seems as if he disappears altogether! This is a *real* shame, because this is a longer than usual NFA jam, and Jerry and Phil are kickin ass. The absence of Weirs rhythmic glue is a real shame.

But that astride, and taken as a whole, these shows sounds GREAT! They belong in every serious Dead Heads collection. In fact I would say that the two shows belong in Dicks Picks. This is the real deal. The end of an era?

This show was the first time I saw the Dead in person, so maybe I'm a bit partial to it, but I think it's great! Sound quality is fine and Lovelight really swings. I'm giving it 5 stars because this show needs a boost in the ratings.

band is kickin it---left channel is jerry and hiss------oh well---turn it down and it disappears a smidgen